EUROPE'S largest regional airline has celebrated its first major milestone by welcoming on board its 50,000th passenger to have travelled through Bournemouth Airport .

Headed for Charles de Gaulle, Flybe staff surprised one of their passengers with a special presentation when they left Bournemouth Airport on Wednesday.

Martina Halagova was travelling with her boyfriend Ben Jones to celebrate his birthday in Paris when she has handed a bottle of fizz and a framed certificate to mark the occasion.

Paul Willoughby, Flybe's regional general manager, and Bournemouth Airport managing director Paul Knight did the honours.

Mr Willoughby said: “We are really pleased to be celebrating our 50,000th passenger milestone at Bournemouth already. Flybe is committed to providing convenient and affordable travel, connecting people not only across the regions but also onwards to the rest of the world and we very much look forward to celebrating our next landmark.”

Mr Knight, added: “The new Flybe routes are proving extremely popular and it’s interesting that they are appealing to a broad range of passengers. It was a pleasure meeting their 50,00th passenger – and we’re already looking to the celebrations for their 100,000th passenger.”

The airline was officially opened at its new based at Bournemouth in May from where it operates two 78-seat Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircrafts.

It has also confirmed its upcoming winter schedule featuring six routes to Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin, Glasgow, Jersey and Manchester.

The programme includes up to two flights a day to Glasgow, daily flights to Jersey and a twice daily service to the airline's Manchester hub where passengers can connect onwards using other Flybe flights to Edinburgh, Belfast and the Isle of Man.

The current summer timetable also includes Toulon, Biarritz and Deauville.